K20D body at Calumet

Tekade in Germany says that they expect to start shipping the first K20Ds to customers with reservation on monday/thuesday 25. 26, because they have the confirmation that Pentax sent some K20Ds to them.

That means, that the first K20D reached Western Europe yesterday, as forecasted.

Well done Pentax!

of course, the first K20Ds are allready sold out.

But I think it is a good sign that Calumet got more than 20 K20d in the first wave.

If Pentax had stock problems, only one single dealer whouldn't get plenty of K20Ds.

Congrats, Karen. You're the first of us to have one.

Joe

it's fast, it's quiet, visually larger screen is the only major visual difference, the latch on the battery and card door may be a little larger (easier for older fingers), my 300 f4.5 focuses faster than it does on the K10. have not yet looked at the pics in the computer. can't prove it but there has been some improvements to the auto focus - the 50/135 works on lens motor only and is silky smooth, quiet and right on target -- i have to qualify this by saying i did not have the upgrade in the K10 for this lens. it is raining here today so trying to get some shots, will get more when i get home and get some up.

be aware that high ISO is not of great importance to me so i may not be giving some of you what you want. it is the difference between fine wine and what the paper bag commandos drink.

till later

karen

Thanks for the first feedbacks !!

Alex
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexandre_ponsin/

Well, I called Calumet and of course they are sold out. The sales gentlemen was quite nice. I placed an order for the body and the grip. I also wanted the new 18-55 II but they didn't have that. I will have to get that later.

There was no pressure to buy anything else. He did ask if I needed any extra batteries, I asked about the price (a little less than $50.), however since I have 8 already for my K10D and the K20D uses the same battery I think I am ok. I told him I would pass, no problem. There was no asking about buying anything else including an extended warranty.

Oh, he said they should have more in in about a week. That is why I went ahead and placed an order. I also looked at Amazon.com and B&H and all were the same price, which is what I expectd.

So far I am quite happy with Calumet. We all can use a few more camera places that are up to snuff.

John

DLBlack wrote:

Karen,

Thanks for the quick review.
Dave

What quick review, where ?

Alfisti wrote:
heheheh I love your pessimism.

Joseph Tainter wrote:

aponsin wrote:

Any news ?
--

Mine was at the sort facility in Salt Lake City about 90 minutes ago.
Delivery in Logan (Utah) is supposed to be by 3:30 today. I won't be
home then, so I'll pick it up at FedEx after 5:30.

That is, I'll pick up whatever Calumet shipped me. I still can't
believe it's a K20D this early. Perhaps Pentax is trying to generate
positive buzz after all.

Okay, I have mine. The box says K20D. The camera says K20D. So I guess I will drop my scepticism and conclude that it is, indeed, and early K20D.

Signing off. I'm going to go start to housebreak it--my term for any bit of hardware or software that has options set to defaults that I know I won't like.

Joe

congrats Joe...

hopefully you will have some sort of a mini review by the time I wake up here in the morning (in UK)
--
common sense is anything but common

i had quite a few from this morning but lightroom said they were damage so can't download them, dunno. will try to salvage and see.

meanwhile, i put in a different card a few minutes ago and so here is one photo, i sized it and lightened it a little -- that is all. it is overcast, raining, and so these flowers were in shadow in these conditions.

as soon as the current downpour is over i'll go out and see if i can get a few more.

looks good, please post some full sized pics for the PPing crowd! :]

operant word in your reply is 'test', i know both are sealed but i have a really hard time thinking of getting these babies wet in the rain, grin. i just can't do it!

i have some with the 50/135 downloading now so will put up a few more, i would get 15 feet from the house and it would rain again -- not complaining as we desperately need the rain here.

everyone, what i am posting are the full photos, i'm not going to crop anything at this point as i usually do to create a more pleasing photograph, just as i am not going to do much PP other than perhaps lightening one that may be dark due to situations. i've used the pop up flash a couple of times in the next ones.
--
karen clanin
http://www.pbase.com/kclanin/inbox

Karen you know what they are after, ISO800 and 1600 RAW converted to JPG

Appease the masses, show some mercy.

realize i'm having a hard time finding things to take pics of in the rain!

these were all taken with the 50/135, each shows the full photo, there is NO cropping and minimal PP on a couple. i should say all were shot in RAW as that is the only way i shoot, converted to jpg in lightroom to CS2.

perhaps i can get more tomorrow depending on weather.

karen clanin
http://www.pbase.com/kclanin/inbox

looking down into a 5 gallon bucket of apples past their prime, they are for the sheep, used the on camera flash
1/180s f/6.7 at 80.0mm iso400

the neighbors flags whipping in the wind, i did lighten this as it was back lit, if you look close you can see rain drops all over the frame frozen with the fast speed to catch the flags.
1/4000s f/6.7 at 103.0mm iso400

i did absolutely nothing to this one but size it
1/500s f/2.8 at 135.0mm iso400

one of our nigerian dwarf goat wethers, used the pop up flash -- his eyes are actually blue, that's not flash reflection. i did nothing to this one except size.
1/180s f/11.0 at 135.0mm iso400

a rose shoot, used pop up flash, nothing else except to size it.
1/180s f/6.7 at 135.0mm iso400